KIEV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake."

Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding.

The new government, which is expected to be formally approved by parliament Thursday, will face the hugely complicated task of restoring stability in a country that is not only deeply divided politically but on the verge of financial collapse. Its fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled the capital last week.

In Kiev's Independence Square, the heart of the protest movement against Yanukovych, the interim leaders who seized control after he disappeared proposed Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country's new prime minister. The 39-year-old served as economy minister, foreign minister and parliamentary speaker before Yanukovych took office in 2010, and is widely viewed as a technocratic reformer who enjoys the support of the U.S.

Across Ukraine, the divided allegiances between Russia and the West were on full display as fistfights broke out between pro- and anti-Russia protesters in the strategic Crimea peninsula.

Amid the tensions, Putin put the military on alert for massive exercises involving most of the military units in western Russia, and announced measures to tighten security at the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

The maneuvers will involve some 150,000 troops, 880 tanks, 90 aircraft and 80 navy ships, and are intended to "check the troops' readiness for action in crisis situations that threaten the nation's military security," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.

What does Obama think he’s going to do? The actions in Ukraine have had the effect of waking up the Russian bear. People I know who have generally been laid back are now starting to become nationalistic.

Obama and Kerry better be careful. They are stirring the pot.

4
posted on 02/27/2014 2:01:43 AM PST
by Cowboy Bob
(They are called "Liberals" because the word "parasite" was already taken.)

Obama to Putin: “You’d better STOP before I yell ‘STOP’ again!! Or next time, you Russian brute, I’ll send you a double-secret, strongly worded letter of concern! And it that doesn’t work, I’ll stamp my dainty foot!”

10
posted on 02/27/2014 2:25:34 AM PST
by ScottinVA
(Obama is so far in over his head, even his ears are beneath the water level.)

Some of the Ukranian nationalists are playing into the hands of Russian separatists in Ukraine. If the linked report is accurate, the attempts to reduce the standing of the Russian language will pour gasoline on separatist movements in the Crimea and the rest of South East Ukraine:http://rt.com/news/ukraine-language-lavrov-asselborn-627/

>>>I think in terms of manpower and a number of assets Ukrainian military is among the most formidable is the world or at least in Europe for sure. As for a quality of their troops Im not sure.<<<

I fact I was wrong. i did a little research to find Ukrainian military was about on par with modern US military in numbers back to 1992 right after independence (780,000 personnel, 6,500 tanks, about 7,000 combat armored vehicles, 1,500 combat aircraft, more than 350 ships, 1,272 strategic nuclear warheads and 2,500 tactical nuclear missiles.)
Today it has deteriorated to 36th in the world.

...proposed Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country's new prime minister. The 39-year-old served as economy minister, foreign minister and parliamentary speaker before Yanukovych took office in 2010, and is widely viewed as a technocratic reformer who enjoys the support of the U.S.

“Putins vision is not to restore the Soviet Union but to restore Russian greatness, said Kathryn Stoner, a Stanford University professor and expert on Russia. Its the Russian empire, which is a very clear political and economic system.

“Stoner called that system Putinism and described it as a complex mix of de facto authoritarianism at home and anti-American obstructionism abroad. It is by no means a Soviet-scale threat to the United States. But experts describe it as a controlling, culturally conservative system that Putin actively promotes to counter what he sees as a degenerate and decadent West.”

Theyre definitely setting themselves up in opposition to the United States, said Fiona Hill, an expert on Putin at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Being the leaders of a conservative coalition of countries who oppose gay rights and gay marriage and those who want to see less of a role for the church, more of a secular society.

There an element of truth in it - the West is flabby, morally decadent and militarily weak. Like the metrosexuals Obama and Kerry, its all bark and no bite. The West simply opposes Russia and sides with fascists because it has lost sight of its own values. There is no reason in the world why Russia should copy the West.

There an element of truth in it - the West is flabby, morally decadent and militarily weak. Like the metrosexuals Obama and Kerry, its all bark and no bite. The West simply opposes Russia and sides with fascists because it has lost sight of its own values. There is no reason in the world why Russia should copy the West.

NATO spends 10x the amount of money Russia does on defense, and 60% of the world's total. Our procurement budget alone is 50% bigger than Russia's entire military budget. There are many ways to describe the West, but weak is not one of them.

I have to hand it to the Russians - they are as good as selling themselves as the good guys to many right wingers in the post-Cold War era as they were to many left wingers during the Cold War. A shambles of a kleptocracy that can't even provide clean water in hotels during the Olympics despite spending a record amount of money for any Olympics, yet retains the loyalty of right-wing supporters abroad, definitely knows a thing or two about information operations.

24
posted on 02/27/2014 3:55:44 AM PST
by Zhang Fei
(Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)

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